


Slipping Through

by Heartythrills



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2017-09-02
Packaged: 2018-12-22 21:19:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11975229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heartythrills/pseuds/Heartythrills
Summary: Request for 'Tsukki realizes he likes Kuroo at training camp'





	Slipping Through

**Author's Note:**

> A request for anon.  
> Prompt: Tsukki realizes he likes Kuroo at training camp 
> 
> I strayed though.

The space between your arms should be just enough to prevent the ball from going straight through. That’s what Kuroo had said, but Tsukishima couldn’t muster the strength to minimize the gap, couldn’t do it fast enough. The contact of the ball was a bruising sting on his left hand before the ball was back up in the air. Tsukishima didn’t have to look back to know that Nekoma’s captain had dived for that save, his bare knees sliding against the hard gym floor. He’d be bruising again. Why didn’t he ever wear kneepads?

  
“Tsukki, you okay?” Kuroo’s voice was a silky caress that drew Tsukishima’s attention to the golden gaze, a pool of worry in front of him.

“Yes,” Tsukishima responded, the sting now barely noticeable in the wake of the goosebumps tingling across his skin as Kuroo’s fingers skated across the reddened parts.

“Let me take you to the nurse’s office,” Kuroo offered still, not believing in Tsukishima’s words, but the color of his skin. Why did he have to care?

“I said I’m fine,” Tsukishima said and released himself from Kuroo’s hold.

“Then sit out,” Kuroo demanded, forcing Tsukishima off the court before resuming practice with the others.

It was just a bruise. It was nothing to worry about. Especially when Kuroo’s knees couldn’t be considered skin color anymore. How many times did he dive for the receives? How many times did his knees hit the floor just to keep the ball in the air?

“I know that look,” Lev’s voice pulled Tsukishima out of his thoughts as he took a seat next to him on the floor. “I see it a lot when other students come watch us play, especially the girls.”

“What are you getting at?” Tsukishima peeled his eyes from Kuroo to meet the gem green eyes between silver lashes.

“You like him,” Lev asserted with an unreadable smile.

To say that Tsukishima ‘liked’ him was putting it rather lightly. Tsukishima respected Kuroo. His existence alone had been a blessing, especially with his skills and techniques. Kuroo was a strange man, but taught with his heart, and Tsukishima wouldn’t deny the cool that exuded from him, couldn’t deny the caliber of his charm…

“I respect Kuroo,” Tsukishima said, with extra emphasis on the word ‘respect’.

“Oho? Talkin bout me?” Kuroo interjected before Tsukishima added to his declaration. Lev was already running back on court. A smug grin tugged at Kuroo’s lips when Tsukishima responded with a prolonged silence. “Let’s go to the Nurse’s office.”

Tsukishima swallowed back the refusal at the tip of his tongue when he saw the blood on Kuroo’s knees. They weren’t going for him, but for Kuroo.

Tsukishima made no efforts in small talk with Kuroo as they walked to the nurse’s office. He didn’t particularly mind the silence. What he did mind was how naturally Kuroo’s arm found their way around his shoulders and how many beats that made his heart was skip. He minded the knot in his stomach when Kuroo smiled that lopsided smile as he trudge along, the blood reaching his ankle socks. He minded the hair that covered Kuroo’s other eye, though not nearly as much as how hard his heart was pounding looking into the single visible eye.

“So you are capable of caring,” Kuroo remarked when Tsukishima kneeled in front of him to wipe the blood off his shin and knees.

Tsukishima nearly scoffed, looking up to the seated Kuroo bitterly. “Of course.”

A chuckle slipped from Kuroo’s lips before his hand fell to Tsukishima’s face. The gentle caress was gradually unraveling Tsukishima’s heart, the strings that he was made of coming undone. And so maybe ‘respect’ wasn’t quite the word too, because he ‘liked’, ‘respected’, and ‘admired’ him. Tsukishima felt something for Kuroo, but he couldn’t place his finger on the word. No, he wouldn’t conjure up the word that lay hidden in the shackled part of his heart.

“You’re good to go,” Tsukishima nearly whispered when he lifted his fingers off the Band-Aid and stood up, breaking the moment.

“Thanks,” Kuroo said, running his fingers through his hair, letting those eyes of golden wonder meet Tsukishima just long enough for the feelings he tried to dismiss to slip through. He really liked him. And goddammit, he minded how much he liked Kuroo.

**Author's Note:**

> And there you have it.


End file.
